The Small Business Safari
Whiskey Wisdom and Small Business Revelations with Steve Beecham
What do battling imaginary winds on the golf course and the quirks of small business ownership have in common? Join us on this "Small Business Safari Adventure," where laughter and lessons go hand in hand. We kick off with a hilarious golf anecdote before diving into the real-life ups and downs of being a small business owner. As summer looms, we also share our exciting travel plans to Kiowa, Tahoe, and Chicago, where we’ll attend the National Association of the Remodeling Industry's board meeting. Plus, we can't help but discuss the rising craze of pickleball, complete with a funny injury story and our own spirited matches.
Meet our guest, Steve Beecham, a Roswell, Georgia native whose tales are as rich as the bourbon he loves. Steve has transformed an old house in downtown Alpharetta into his “bourbon barn” office, and his journey through the Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas is nothing short of fascinating. From his newfound passion for bourbon to living car-free in a tightly-knit community, Steve’s stories encapsulate a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit and local charm. Plus, he’s got a 1966 Chevy pickup truck that just adds to his storytelling flair.
We're also exploring the world of whiskey and bourbon, from Angel's Envy to High West whiskey and classic names like Jim Beam. You’ll learn about the origins and characteristics of these spirits, and why water quality matters. Our discussion doesn’t stop at whiskey; it winds through the psychological impact of mortgage interest rates and how local politics can be leveraged for business networking. Whether you're a whiskey enthusiast, a small business owner, or just someone who loves a good story, this episode promises a blend of humor, insight, and inspiration.
What do battling imaginary winds on the golf course and the quirks of small business ownership have in common? Join us on this "Small Business Safari Adventure," where laughter and lessons go hand in hand. We kick off with a hilarious golf anecdote before diving into the real-life ups and downs of being a small business owner. As summer looms, we also share our exciting travel plans to Kiowa, Tahoe, and Chicago, where we’ll attend the National Association of the Remodeling Industry's board meeting. Plus, we can't help but discuss the rising craze of pickleball, complete with a funny injury story and our own spirited matches.
Meet our guest, Steve Beecham, a Roswell, Georgia native whose tales are as rich as the bourbon he loves. Steve has transformed an old house in downtown Alpharetta into his “bourbon barn” office, and his journey through the Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas is nothing short of fascinating. From his newfound passion for bourbon to living car-free in a tightly-knit community, Steve’s stories encapsulate a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit and local charm. Plus, he’s got a 1966 Chevy pickup truck that just adds to his storytelling flair.
We're also exploring the world of whiskey and bourbon, from Angel's Envy to High West whiskey and classic names like Jim Beam. You’ll learn about the origins and characteristics of these spirits, and why water quality matters. Our discussion doesn’t stop at whiskey; it winds through the psychological impact of mortgage interest rates and how local politics can be leveraged for business networking. Whether you're a whiskey enthusiast, a small business owner, or just someone who loves a good story, this episode promises a blend of humor, insight, and inspiration.
And the reason I know it's not windy out is because the four caddy that was playing with me or watching me. I kept hitting the ball all over the yard man, I was going up and down those stairs off the beaten path the whole time and he kept saying that's not a lot of wind, there's just not a lot of wind. Finally, I looked at him. He played golf at College of Charleston when he was a kid. I said hey, man, I got it. There's not a lot of wind. I suck, he goes.
Speaker 1:Why do you mean it like that? I said well, I'm taking it like that. I said don't worry, I'm not, I'm not, I'm just banging. I'll give you a tip. Welcome to the small business safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in adventure team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. Alan, we're back, we're ready to rock it, if you're listening in your car, turned up just a little bit. Actually, you might want to turn it down a little bit.
Speaker 2:We're about to have a lot of fun. Yeah, the bourbon's already flowing.
Speaker 1:Bourbon flowing, we're ready to go. We've got some high-west bourbon, so another potential sponsor to the podcast we've got Steve Beecham in studio.
Speaker 2:We're going to get to him in a minute, but we've got to talk about the big summer plans everybody has, which apparently you know. You'll just indulge us so that we can get to you, that's right, Okay. So thank you. What are you going to do?
Speaker 1:Chris, well, I'm so glad you asked that I actually just got done mapping it out. I'm not doing near as much fun as my buddy who's sending me pictures from Geneva Switzerland, jerry, and I hate him. I know I did too. I was so mad. No, I just plotted out, I'm going Kiowa, tahoe, chicago, three weeks in a row.
Speaker 2:Boom, boom, boom. That's a lot of travel. That doesn't even sound like fun to me, Actually the last one.
Speaker 1:Chicago is not going to be fun. Well, it is. It's part of our national board, of the national association of the remodeling industry, and I'm going up there for a two-day event, uh, to talk to them about what they're doing. One of the big things is we're gonna oh, you're the speaker no, I'm actually just a listener, okay, but I'm on the board so I get to. I guess I I want to go up.
Speaker 1:You actually can go and keep your mouth shut no, no chance, no I, in fact I wondered, I asked them, I said so, since I'm on the board, do I get a crown and do I get, like, a scepter? Do I get a? Do I do? I do I get, do, at least does somebody get to carry me in on my throne? And somebody said, well, you're not the president, I'm like, okay, well, he can come in after me.
Speaker 2:Not yet, that's what you think people you playing Kewa the ocean course because my buddy just got hit by the pickleball flu.
Speaker 1:Oh, god, you're going to keela to play pickleball oh no you can do that. No, hang on the pickleball flu. This is orthopedic surgeons and uh and resurgence orthopedics. This is their absolute living dream when old people try to go out there and play a sport that they haven't played ever before and try to play it like they're 22 again. So my buddy tore his calf muscle oh, so he has a pickleball injury.
Speaker 2:That is like the cone of shame. It is in my opinion I.
Speaker 1:That's why I said I actually I gave it to him too. You know what I'm gonna use, that I'm gonna bring a cone down, yeah. So alan said I get to put this on you. And then here's your bell and you have to walk all through the streets and just we the whole time go shame, shame. What happened?
Speaker 2:he got hurt in pickleball, you big pickle can you say that you can say whatever you want?
Speaker 1:yeah, we've been explicit for years now I uh, I played a little bit of pickleball and I have to say, uh, the ball doesn't bounce. So what's harder, pickleball or tennis? Everybody says, well, clear, tennis. I'm like, all right, let's go out and play pickleball, that that ball doesn't bounce up. You have to go down to get it. I'm like, and you, big guy, that's a big dig.
Speaker 2:So you got to get down. You're not used to things not coming to you big dad.
Speaker 1:That definitely was one of the things I said too, but the first time, the second time I played, my wife broke the paddle, but she took a picture of it, sent it to all our friends and said chris is not, chris has taken his golf game to the pickleball course. Because I'm also known for throwing my golf clubs. And I was like wait a minute. That wasn't me.
Speaker 2:I didn't do that she thought about she threw a paddle and broke it, broke it. Wow, yeah, were you proud of her.
Speaker 1:I was a little bit. I was like well, at least we're digging yeah, this is what course, while we're getting crushed by our daughter two on one, oh no, we're playing two against one and we are now completely. We've never beat her. We've played eight different times and I've never beat her.
Speaker 2:So you're going to Kiowa not to play pickleball and not to play golf, right In the middle of summer. Right, I'm not jealous yet.
Speaker 1:Okay, I got beach. I got fancy restaurants. I got fancy restaurants. Yeah, hot Beach doesn't work for me. Oh, all right, well, I'll go play golf. I'm actually going to put Troy out there and put him in like one of those little wheelie things and say he can come out here and play off one leg. It's Troy who has a pickleball.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of enjoying that a little bit more now. So, anyway, what's the over-under on lost balls at Kiowa?
Speaker 1:on the Ocean Course, keela, on the ocean course. On the ocean course, I had not played that one now going on 15 years, because the last time I played it wasn't windy out. And the reason I know it's not windy out is because the four caddy that was playing with me or watching me, I kept hitting the ball all over the yard. Man, I was going up and down those stairs, uh, off the off the beaten path the whole time and he kept saying and there's, that's not a lot of wind, there's just not a lot of wind. I finally I looked at him. He played golf at college, charleston, he's a kid. I said, hey, man, I got it, there's not a lot of wind. I suck, he goes. Why do you mean it like that? I said, well, I'm taking it like that. I said, don't worry, I'm not, I'm not, I'm just banging. I'll give you a tip. But it's tough. And how about?
Speaker 1:17 is a par three? We had to wait for the alligator to cross the fairway before we could hit. That's kind of awesome. That was cool, yeah. And I, and I kept telling myself do not tough it, do not tough it, do not skull it across the fairway. And uh, I actually hit it on the green there. There you go, and then three put it. So all right, let me get to nice bogey. I can make them happen. All right, let's get to our guests, shall we? Yes, let's all right. We have been introduced to steve beacham with, not by one person, but by two people saying you've got to have him on your podcast If anything. It's going to be fun, but he's actually got a lot of knowledge. Don't put on your fake Southern accent.
Speaker 2:I can't, I don't have it. You just did, did I? You started. It's awful.
Speaker 1:It is. How about I feel like Brian Kelly going to LSU Right, going to lsu right, y'all, we're gonna have a lot of fun. Brian, you're from the midwest brother and I'm from michigan. I I've been accused of being canadian, so let's not even accuse it. All right, let's get to it, shall we steve? Yes, sir, you are not from the north. Where are you from?
Speaker 3:I'm right here, like I guess thought telling you earlier. This is my dirt right here. I grew up, went to roswell high school oh my yeah, my mom and dad went to high school in uh dekab county, so I've been around.
Speaker 2:I've been around my whole life actually, when we asked him off air, he where he from. He goes right, damn here yeah, how about that?
Speaker 1:so you grew up in roswell, yeah, and now you live. Where do you live now?
Speaker 3:I live in downtown alpharetta.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you didn't go very far.
Speaker 3:I didn't go very far at all. Yeah, I haven't lived anywhere but Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton.
Speaker 2:Oh, so when you said you bought a house three blocks from downtown, it's Alpharetta, alpharetta, not Atlanta. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, no, alpharetta. Yeah, so I bought this old house and everybody around me bulldozed their house. I'm the only guy, so I tell everybody that I live in the slave quarters amongst the plantations. I got the little bitty house. Everybody's got all these big monster houses all around me.
Speaker 1:Which is funny, because let's get into what Steve does. Steve, what do you do for a living Mortgages?
Speaker 3:The problem is, all those guys are paying cash. It's not helping my business. No.
Speaker 2:So now you were saying you've got a little building in the back like a garage, yeah.
Speaker 3:So this house was built in 1935. And so I decided to save the house instead of tear it down. And it had an old concrete block building in the back like a garage, little work area, and so I decided to make that my office. So I fixed it up. It's like a man cave and, um, it's just, it's fantastic. So it's kind of the same sort of thing. You got here, hey, come around back, kind of thing, you know, and that's what people do, and it's so close to downtown. I mean, I, I sold my car, I don't have a car anymore, so I walked downtown for coffee, I walked downtown for lunch, I walked downtown for dinner. So it's kind of cool. My wife's got a car, but I got an old pickup truck, got an old 66 Chevy pickup truck, Nice, with three on the tree. Oh boy, yes sir, does it have a wood bed? Yes, sir, and it's out front and I drove that and there's no air conditioning. So it's not a lot of fun today.
Speaker 1:You drove it over here today. Oh yeah, it's 98 degrees out, it's not hot, it's just around that one. Oh yeah, yeah it's so cool.
Speaker 3:But I was, you know, when I got that I call it the bourbon barn. So when I had a friend of mine call me one time and he's like, dude, there's this guy out in Austinin texas that does this like entrepreneurial type school and he says it's really weird and it's cool and you're gonna love it, we're gonna go out there and take a class. So we went out, it's called the wizard academy and it's outside of austin texas. And the story is there's this guy that got really famous doing copyright. He would. He started out selling radio ads and nobody was in his p. He'd go back to get them to re-up the ad and nobody like nothing. I didn't sell anything. I paid all this money on the radio and didn't sell anything. So he started rewriting the copy and he got to be the guy in the country that people would go to to write an ad for like a newspaper or magazine or or radio ad. And he got pretty famous and he did really well and so he bought this farm or this big piece of property out in austin. He built this thing. It looks like harry potter, it's crazy thing you've ever seen. So this big, huge, tall, like bell tower building, it's like four or five stories out in the middle of nowhere and he has these classes and he brings in all these experts from around the country and he still does some marketing business.
Speaker 3:But when, when I was out there, we took the class, I learned a lot about writing and and you know, basically you know how do you get people to look at your, you know what you're doing, you know. So, like kind of like on newspaper right, that headlines got to get them and and then they said, hey, we're going to start this whiskey Somalia class. And I'm like, really, and he goes, like we discovered nobody's doing that, so we've got this whole room, we're going to create this vault and every time somebody comes they got to bring a whiskey. That's part of the get into the school thing. And so I started taking these classes. There's five levels.
Speaker 3:I got to four and then, by number five, they were getting real serious about you got to smell it, you got to taste it and get. They got real, real serious about it. But I've taken these four and so I got into buying whiskey, doing the first four classes. That's all the bourbon. The first day before lunch we probably tasted a hundred whiskeys. They would give these little threesomes and you would have to start trying to get a pilot, for you know what was irish whiskey, what was japanese whiskey, what was bourbon or scotch or rye, and you started, you know, after a while you started kind of getting to that and then I went out as a scotch drinker and actually came back as a bourbon drinker.
Speaker 2:So change of plans. Chris, screw kiowa. You got to go to the wizard whiskey academy is it?
Speaker 1:is it still going? The wizard academy was not originally for whiskey, was for other stuff. Yeah, and they still. And it still going. The wizard academy was not originally for whiskey, was for other stuff. Yeah, and they still. And it still is. I'm going to the. We're going screw the oh.
Speaker 2:Am I finally invited to something with you, big daddy? Maybe we're still working on that golf event.
Speaker 1:It came out of your mouth and you took it back back with you know what we'll do is we'll go up through the bourbon trail and then make our way out to Austin. That's close. The wizard whiskey Academy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you stay there on on premise and um yeah, so if you just look up the wizard Academy, I'm trying to think of what.
Speaker 3:They've got another name a little bit of barbecue or the school, but anyway, you'll find it or I'll send it to you. Yeah, and it's just fascinating. And so the first time we went out there to first class we were after the class. It was like a two day class. The guy said we got a. We got a whiskey guy downstairs, we're going to go down there, he's going to, we're going to taste his whiskey, we're going to. It was an angel's envy guy. So the story behind angel's envy was the the, the guy that was a head distiller for I think it's Wild Turkey. He retired and his son was in the whiskey business and they were sitting around at Thanksgiving talking about him retiring and his son asked him he said was there ever a blend or a formula that you never made that Wild Turkey? He said, oh yeah, I've got one I just really love. He said, well, why don't we do that? And so that's Angel's Envy, so do you know, why it's called Angel's Envy.
Speaker 3:No, but tell us all. So when you put the whiskey in the barrel, especially in Kentucky, it's going to evaporate 3% to 5% a year, and that's the devil's cut right, the stuff that evaporates. They call that the angel's share. That's the angel's share, and so the stuff that the angels don't get is called Angel's Envy, and it's got the wings and stuff on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's a Devil's Cut? That's something, isn't it no?
Speaker 1:Okay, not that I know of. I knew that was the Angel's Share.
Speaker 3:It's a whiskey that's called a Devil's Cut, but that's great. You've given me something to go back and study.
Speaker 1:I don't know that's what. There is something out there, but I know that was called the angel share and angel's envy was this wine was so good that the angels wish they had it. Yeah, and it's a cool bottle and it's a good drink too right, it's a great, great bourbon.
Speaker 3:And then, after we sat around like we're doing now and we tasted it, and he said, well, y'all, I won't be coming back. And I said why?
Speaker 1:he said we just sold it for 50 billion dollars and they'd only had it like two years and I don't need to do this anymore.
Speaker 3:You know, I don't even know they're starting another one, though there goes tahoe, yeah, damn it all right.
Speaker 1:So, uh, the wit, all right, I want to okay so?
Speaker 2:so you know, you have a somalia. You're a fourth level black belt at the wizard academy, whatever that means. So we got the high west here. What do you? What are you thinking?
Speaker 3:I think it's pretty good. You know it's blended, so if the whiskey says it straight, it's at least two years old, and so all these are two year old whiskeys and then they take different bottles and blend it. High West is pretty pretty much likes a likes a rye whiskey, and the reason is is, you know, one of the things I learned in the whiskey school was most whiskeys start, you know, from the farmers in the field, and so out west everybody grew rye. You know, in the south we grew corn, they grew malted barley. In scotland they grow rice. You know, in japan blah, blah, blah potatoes for for vodka in russia, and so that's kind of how. That's why so high west has stayed pretty true to staying with a higher rye sort of bourbon, you know, and I think a rye was actually their first one that they did it was. Yeah, uh, I was turned on to staying with a higher rye sort of bourbon, you know, and I think a rye was actually their first one that they did.
Speaker 1:It was yeah, uh, I was turned on to this by a friend of mine. It's good stuff, yeah. So this was, uh, this was not my maintenance bourbon. Um, so it's too high price for that, right? So, steve, do you have one of those? Do you have a bourbon you go to first and then it's called legit l-e-g-e-T.
Speaker 3:So story behind that. I got all these whiskey stories and you tell me when to shut up, but you've got Jim Beam right. So Jim Beam is a four-year-old and what people don't know is most of those regular line bourbons like Jim Beam Wild Turkey I'm trying to think of one of the other ones, four Roses, four Roses Most of those are four-year-old bourbons, so they're more than two years old and they still taste pretty good. People just forgot about them. Everybody's doing something fun and exclusive, but they're great whiskeys.
Speaker 3:But the guy at Jim Beam was Booker Noe. Booker Noe was a descendant of Jim Beam and Booker Noe was the distiller. And in the whiskey world the distiller is the king, because you make your whiskey and then all you do with your bourbon, the only thing you do is you put water in there to cut the proof down, so it's really straight out of the barrel kind of stuff. The rest of the whiskeys in the world, they're all blended, all blended whiskeys. And so Suntory bought a Japanese company, bought Jim Beam. So Suntory bought a Japanese company, bought Jim Beam. And so they got Booker Noe hooked up with their master blender, which is some Japanese guy, and they got together.
Speaker 3:And so what this guy did was he took the Basil Hayden's. Basil Hayden is an eight-year-old seven eight-year-old Jim Beam, I got to tell you that story too. But this master blender took the Basil Hayden's and put them in rum and sherry barrels and stuff and really kind of smoothed it out and it's like $39. It's the best bourbon that I know of. That's a great starter bourbon for somebody. Legit whiskey L-E-G-E-N-T for two legends Legit.
Speaker 1:How about that? We just picked up a maintenance bourbon Little nugget here and I'm telling you, I think that's what this podcast has to be about. Why talk about mortgages? That's the question. Who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 3:Rates are too high Prices are too expensive. Forget that this is cool. So when Booker Noe was doing an eight-year-old bourbon, he was trying to figure out a name for this eight-year-old bourbon. And so the Noes were Catholic, and so he started doing some research and the first guy to bring Catholics to Kentucky was a guy named Basil Hayden. And Basil Hayden brought a bunch of families to Kentucky, bought the first piece of property and built the first Catholic church in Kentucky. So he named that whiskey Basil Hayden after that.
Speaker 1:I don't go to church on Sunday and I have a little Basil Hayden.
Speaker 2:I said I went to church.
Speaker 1:He brought me to church Cause I'm a Catholic guy and when you look at the marvelous guy, it used to have the cloak and the and the waistband of a priest.
Speaker 3:The label looks like a priest because Basil was a Catholic priest.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, that's amazing All this time. So Basil Hayden, that's been in the bag on the course, because when I went on the boys' trip, every time you had a double you had to take a shot which would lead to more doubles. Hello, yeah, let me tell you about that trip. Robert trent jones uh, friday, we played 18 and then we played 18 more and chris hadn't played 18 holes like combined before we got there. This is way back in the day. And then we went out drinking at night and had a big old time and then we had to get up and play uh, had to play the senator over.
Speaker 1:Anyway, it was a link style course and I was all over the board I mean, there are people puking on the first tease and I held it together. But my first shot into the Heather came out double. Yeah. Second hole into the heather, double, another drink. Third shot into the heather, double, ouch. And and we were what we're doing shots of basil hayden. And finally my buddy and I'll never, to this day, I will always defend him eric loray. Uh, eric said chris, I think you can take a couple holes off. I'm like, I said no, I'll say true to it. He goes why don't you just take a couple holes off? Long story short is I turned around and shot a 39 on the back nine, but that first nine I mean I was just getting myself back together. My hands are shaking all over the place. So anyway, that's how I got introduced to basil hayden, because that was our shot.
Speaker 1:It was in his bag. I'm like I'm gonna start putting that shit in my bag, but that's so.
Speaker 2:Basil hayden and you never knew all this time you could have used it for communion the whole time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I could have drank it before I went to church and went and when the priest would have said chris, have you been drinking? Oh yeah, but I've been drinking what the priest gave me. That's right, that's true. So you, uh, you went to this class. Go out to the wizard academy. We're supposed to be talking about mortgage. Screw this. Let's talk about bourbons, because you're obviously an aficionado of it now we should talk a little mortgage, don't you think?
Speaker 2:just a tiny bit. All right, let's talk about bourbons first. Okay, we'll do that, it is more fun.
Speaker 1:So, uh, you've. You went out there, you tasted them all up. What is the difference between a japanese whiskey and an american bourbon or whiskey, the water?
Speaker 3:so when you drive, when you drink a Japanese whiskey, the clearness in that whiskey is unbelievable. So the lime supposedly in Kentucky, is what really they think gives it that bourbon, whatever the kick or extra is In Japan, the water is so much more cleaner and fresher and it's more like drinking a water. The Japanese whiskeys to me are like a watered down scotch so you like them.
Speaker 1:The japanese whiskey, I don't you, okay, so all right, that's. I like a peaty scotch, so you like a p? All right. So let's go to talk scotch for a minute. So so strike for steve. On japanese whiskey. Have you ever had japanese whiskey?
Speaker 2:I have got a bottle of suntorian product in my house. Yeah, what?
Speaker 3:do you? It was a gift.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I I really don't like any other whiskey besides bourbon. I used to like scotch.
Speaker 1:You know, what's funny is, uh, back when I was in consulting and had the wall street journal and had to learn, uh, all those big words, what I do, I always pulled out the one section about lifestyle because the other stuff was, like you said, mumbo jumbo, mortgage rates are too high, because they were in the 90s and prices were too high. So there you go it. Guess what we're back? Yeah, so I went to the lifestyle, lifestyle section, said you know, to be sophisticated, you need to get any vodka you want, doesn't matter, as long as it's not stupid. But you want to go for scotch. Scotch, because scotch is what a man drink. Men, gentlemen, gentlemen, yeah, but bourbon is rock cut and they didn't say it like that in wall street journal, they use like a redneck whiskey yeah, it was no good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so bourbon in the late 90s was considered just no good. Jack daniels was the thing that the kids drank out in the fields. Uh, when they were in high school allegedly definitely not in michigan and definitely not in jackson michigan, and if anybody wants to check me on that, good news same with me scotch went out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're clubbing and stuff in the late 80s and and 90s and that's what we thought we were sophisticated, right you know, you didn't get a jack and coke anymore, we got a scotch and water right.
Speaker 1:So that was the big thing, and now it seems like bourbon has kind of caught up in the horse race to get with them big time. So what is your favorite scotch? You said you like a pd scotch I like a lagavulin pd scotch, so I was going I mean the ones I knew, because you had to use names uh, mckellen, uh, all good stuff right so you just kind of go down there and you start picking them off and put them down and everybody went, went. Oh, they're lovely.
Speaker 3:Do you know what makes it peaty so peat? In the old days in Scotland they didn't have much wood, so what they would do is they would go into the bogs, the low creek areas and they would dig these mud bricks, and so a peat brick was probably about the size of a concrete block, and people would put the peat bricks in their fireplaces and that's what they burned for heat, much like we did with coal. They used the peat, and so what would happen is they would take the malted barley out of the field and they would take it into a room, kind of like I would say a like a big chicken house, if you will, that had screens on it, and there in the summer and all they would, um, they'd have to turn the barley, because you have to dry the barley out, and and in the summer they uh, they used to call it that the guys that had the pitchforks that were turning the malted barley. What they got was what they called monkey shoulder. You ever had monkey shoulder?
Speaker 3:I've had monkey shoulders, that's right, scott, that's what that's called a monkey shoulder because it's like you're shoveling and you're flipping and they would get a sore shoulder.
Speaker 3:Now it's called the monkey shoulder but that, but when it's good too, when you get to winter time, they would take the, the peat and, uh, they would put it in fireplaces to heat it up and they'd close off the sides of it and kind of you know, make it. And so what happens is peat's a lot like, kind of like a pine straw smell to me, sort of thing, and so that that smokiness from that peat would infiltrate the malted barley and it would give it that particular taste. And so, uh, I'll lay, scotch is predominantly, most all of them are peaty scotches, and that's how they get, that's how it gets. That smell is from that, that, um, that bog. But I gotta tell you a great story. Can I tell a great story?
Speaker 3:I would love a great story, please, so okay chris is in the house in the early days, in the early days of whiskey. What happened was the, the farmer just for the listener.
Speaker 2:By the way, the pores are getting, yeah, taller we're not gonna need uber good thing you don't own a 66 might be sitting right here.
Speaker 1:It might be a fixture on the parking lot. But he starts talking about you got to start drinking more man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's a video kind of like this on the internet. But anyway, this was a fascinating story to me was that the farmers, what they would do is they would make their own whiskey. So in the South they'd make it with corn, bourbon whiskey and rye and malted barley and then in early, early days they would take that to the local grocery store guy Picture 7-Eleven on the corner, jones' grocery store and they would take it in these gallon jugs which is kind of like what you see, the moonshine with your finger in there and you turn it up. They would take them in these jugs and they would barter that whiskey for salt or sugar or whatever they needed from the grocery store. Well, there was this guy, like in the early 1600s or something, and there's this one guy and these people would bring these jugs in and then the next guy would come in and he goes, hey, I want some whiskey and they would have on the whiskey it would have, like you know, jones or smith or brown or whatever.
Speaker 3:And they and and what he noticed was certain people like certain farmers whiskeys and he would sell out of those whiskeys and they were like I don't like that brown son of a gun. I don't buy his whiskeys, so some of his whiskeys wouldn't sell or he'd have to discount them. So he came up with the idea of getting a 55-gallon drum. What do you call it Drum? Yeah, whatever Barrel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, barrel.
Speaker 3:Barrel is what I'm looking for. So he got a 55-gallon barrel and he started pouring everybody's whiskey in this barrel and then he named the barrel and named the whiskey after himself and his name was Johnny Walker.
Speaker 1:Oh my God whiskey after himself, and his name was johnny walker.
Speaker 3:Oh my god, johnny walker is the first guy to blend whiskeys, and that's why whiskeys are blended whiskeys. Is that cool story? That's a great story.
Speaker 1:You know, you can start a business, you can make million dollars, you can uh scale or you could talk about idiots that work for you. But that's a cool story and that's why you listen to this podcast.
Speaker 3:Huh and he was the first guy to do a square bottle because when he was packing bottles to sell when they started selling across the country, he came up with the idea that the square bottle could get more in a box than the round bottle. So he's one of the first guys in the world to do glass square bottles. There you go.
Speaker 1:Business lesson from drinking. Tell me you don't learn something when we drink? That's how we started this podcast, alan. Every time we were that's how you got me talked into coming here I did I fed him a ton of beer at a bar and I said you know what? We're really smart, especially after like 75 beers, and we need to start a podcast because people need to hear this, because this is really good. And now we just learned that Johnny Walker figured out that you can get more volume in a square bottle than you can in a round bottle and you can make more for it. Hello.
Speaker 2:We had to figure out how to blow square glass back then. Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker 3:That's a great question, but somebody knew that was going to be a lot of glass bottles, so it was worth their while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd blow it. What All right?
Speaker 1:So mortgages, really no. Screw mortgages, screw mortgages. Mortgage rates are too high, prices are too high. Just Screw mortgages. Mortgage rates are too high, prices are too high. Just sit there and wait. Don't ever buy a house ever again, because the mortgage rates are going to go back to 2%, right? No, exactly right.
Speaker 3:What are you seeing? We may never see that we're right around a 7% range. Some days it's a little lower In the high 60s, some days it's a little. You know the deal on the mortgage is I've been doing it 30 something years when the rate gets to seven and a half percent, people stop buying and I've seen that three or four times in 30 years. When the rate gets out of the sevens and starts getting in sixes, people start buying. That psychologically it's it's high but it's doable. But the sevens is like this cloudy spot, you know, and that's where we've been stuck.
Speaker 3:We've been stuck there for several months.
Speaker 1:Fine, let's talk mortgages. Look at that dirty look you're giving me. Well, I want to talk more liquor, but this is more interesting.
Speaker 2:No, we'll get back to liquor.
Speaker 1:All right, let's talk, because this perspective is exactly what I wanted people to hear, because we're both, as we've been called, seasoned, not old, and we've seen a lot of these cycles. And you're right, the 2% and 3% in our lifetime probably not guys. And he hit on exactly what I was telling people and I'm seeing the same. If it's in the 7s, people't buy, but if I can get six and three quarters all day long, oh, you know what I guess?
Speaker 2:your expectations have changed right, so you got suddenly, yeah. So suddenly six and three quarters sounds great compared to seven and a half, which it is better. But you know, you just got to get used to the fact that that's the new normal.
Speaker 1:I, I, that's well. I want his opinion on this because that's what I've been telling people, but cause that's what I remember. I mean, what was your? My? My first house that I actually bought was in the late nineties. Um, and I'll I'll never forget this, uh, my wife and I were getting came with money and I was a poor college kid who came with. Um, well done, chris, I did totally married up. Well, she wouldn't tell me until the end either. I mean, it was like literally, she would never tell me she had her own house. But when we went to buy, how do you not know that I?
Speaker 2:know, yeah, we need to get nicole on the podcast. We gotta, we gotta, find out a little more about this, this chick wouldn't crack a bit.
Speaker 1:No, uh. So her dad uh saw the late 70s and so did my parents, and the 70s in Michigan were horrible because the auto industry got oh, anytime there's a recession, whatever you do, you make sure it's a 30-year fixed. And at the time in the late 90s, the 30-year fix was going to run like seven and a half. So I bought it down and went on a seven-one arm and I told her. I said don't ever tell your dad. So every time we go back home for Christmas he goes you guys did a 30-year fix. I'm like, oh, absolutely, nick.
Speaker 1:All day long I lied to my father-in-law you got a chance to refi out of that. I did too. So I got lucky right, because exactly what happened was I was betting on that coming down. You were right and refied out of it. And yeah, thank you See. But do you think I can go tell him I was right? Yeah, no, I would no, yeah, yeah, you don't know this guy, it ain't gonna happen. Uh, he's the one who taught me my dad and I worked on houses. That's how I got in the home building business and the remodeling business. But my father-in-law is the true expert in all things, houses. He is just amazing. I brought him down here to work on electrical projects for me that we were doing here in atlanta. Uh, so he, he's an amazing dude. But anyway, back to the mortgage rates and you all right. So it's up in the sevens. Does it come down to the sixes?
Speaker 3:yeah, big time when, when uh, I think we're going to kind of coast along here. We might see little bitty baby drops, maybe an eighth every couple months or so. It's not going to.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's going to be big, but I think you think the election election is going to have anything to do with that I just read a great article today and it said it really doesn't move the needle at all.
Speaker 3:It makes November a bad sales, real estate sales month because people are all worried and don't know what it's going to happen. So there's no closings in November. Because in October people are all worried about what's going to happen because most elections are fairly close. You know it's not just a total blowout all the time, and so statistics say that activity picks up after an election.
Speaker 2:so regardless of who, regardless of who wins, which is so interesting to me. Yeah, well, let's just talk like this. Well, right?
Speaker 3:now we're in this cloud, right. We don't know what's gonna happen. We don't know. You know, do we do we get democrat, do we get republican?
Speaker 2:and people are, but if you're smart enough and you know nothing's going to change anyway and we're going to go back to normal. Why would we stop now? Nothing's going to change.
Speaker 3:I call it like we're in this really funky period right now and I call it. It's like this cloud comes in. It's like people. It's like you can go back two weeks ago and my phone rang off the hook for about three or four days and then it didn't, and then it's kind of then it would go. It's like nobody called. Then all of a sudden it'd ring for two or three days. It's almost like people are listening to the news or what's being put out, and all of a sudden they get real scared and they don't do anything. And then maybe something comes out and they go okay, we're going to live, we're not going to die, and then all of a sudden they go buy something. It's, it's a weirdest thing. It's like these little clouds come in and everybody gets scared and then it gets a sunny day again.
Speaker 2:The consumer psychology is so fascinating to me. It's like those little school, a tiny little fish that all just sort of flash one way and another together. And and I, when I had my retail store, it's like nobody's been in here all day, and then at two o''clock five people walk in and we all think we're special and different, and and I don't, I don't know well really weird.
Speaker 1:We're all sitting here and one of the things you always knew and you knew this at enterprise I knew this back in my uh consulting days uncertain money doesn't spend and right now, everybody is waiting for an uncertainty and they want to hear uncertainty and they're hearing it right and right now, here and especially in the us, because, as uh well, steve doesn't know this, but we are broadcasted in 15 continents and, of course, universally. Now, a couple of galaxies, yeah, we're actually getting streamed way out there, so, um, but here in the us, maybe the first thing that extraterrestrial hears, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So that's us. You know, I don't. You know just one of those things, yeah, but but we're uncertain. Money doesn't make that lightly though, chris. Uh, you shouldn't, yeah, because you in fact a few more bourbons, you're really gonna start thinking extraterrestrial. So, but here's the thing and I've seen that too, I, you know, I, we've all been in business for a long time and but and owned our own business. Now, uh, alan live, and you've done it for quite a while as well is that every election cycle, everybody stops and then, after it's over, you're like hey, my guy won, I'm gonna spend. Oh, my guy didn't win.
Speaker 3:Well, shit, I still gotta do something right, but then you at least know where you're headed, sort of in your mind you know.
Speaker 1:Okay, I know it's gonna look like this a little bit right and at the end of the day, uh, if you're a Democrat or Republican and I've been through as a business owner, I've been through a lot of Democratic cycles, guess what guys it hasn't impacted me negatively because that's DC and I'm in Atlanta. I mean Main Street happens. Don't let these guys get in your head, man. You got to get out of it because you can't change all that shit that's going on up there and I don't care. We all think we can and we've talked about it. Alan and I have actually Alan's more active in politics than I am, but he knows I'm pretty active here locally. But we can impact locally, we can't impact nationally.
Speaker 2:That's just not who we are, right, maybe we can with this podcast, but I don't know, don't sell yourself short, short, big daddy, let's go.
Speaker 3:But back to this so hey, we're gonna talk about that, that's. That's a huge thing. That people don't do for their business is use politics as a way to grow their business. Have you ever thought about that?
Speaker 3:that's a good one so let me give you an example. Let's say you're, you live in, uh, you live in our town and you want to, uh, and you know somebody running for city council. So if you're in a small business, one of the best what you need to do is you need to prospect, you need to meet new people, right, because I can't spend money with you if I don't know you exist. So I tell small businesses all the time that if you get involved in really, really local politics because basically it's nonpartisan, it's usually you know it's your neighbor, it's a guy you know from. You know it's your neighbor, it's a guy you know from. You know I don't know your club or the chamber or your church. All right, do you think he's a good guy or good gal? And so you go to that person and say how can I help you?
Speaker 3:So if you're running for local office, the two things you've got to do is one is you got to shake as many hands and kiss as many babies as you can, right, you need to meet as many people as you can. And then the second thing you need is you need some money, because you need to pay for some yard signs and you got to do some mailers. So I'm just talking about, let's just say, a city council seat, and those guys and girls have got to raise anywhere from 10 to $20,000 to compete in a local city council race around here. Some cases they spend up to 40, $50,000. And if they don't really have a serious opponent they might get by for 5,000. But anyway, for for a lot of people running for office, that's that's, that's not really something they always, always have in their back pocket.
Speaker 3:So you go to that person, you say let me help you. And now that's, and they will just bow at your feet Please help me. And so one of the easiest things you can do is you can say why don't I throw a party for you at my house? I'll introduce my neighbors, I'll introduce my friends, I'll introduce my people from my church or my country club. Come over to my house and I'm just going to ask all my buddies to come meet you because I like you and you're running for city council. Well, when you do that, it's a huge bonus for this particular person that's running. So you get all your friends and they come over. So two things happens. One is they go. Oh, steve's connected, he knows this person right.
Speaker 1:Look at Steve. Not only does no, bourbon and all where it came from. He knows how to work it, but he knows, but he knows real people who are really significant, because he's city council guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so then you have your friends, give them some money. Hey, if you would, I'd like scott, he's running for city council if you'd write him a check. If it's fifty dollars, hundred dollars, whatever you, whatever you feel inclined, we need to help him get some yard signs, blah, blah, blah. So so you he, that city councilman walks away from your party with $2,000, let's say in his pocket and he meet 30 new people. Now what happens is that person now will run into somebody else that says I'll throw a party for you, cause there's people that are in that political process that understand the power of that, and that's kind of how that works, right? So different people in the community will throw a party.
Speaker 3:Well, guess what? You now get an invitation to that party. So now you get to go to that party at Johnny's house on the other side of town and you don't know Johnny and you don't know any of Johnny's neighbors. But now, all of a sudden, you're at this party. Well, guess what? The guy running for city council you're new his favorite person, because you just put money in his pocket and introduced him to 30 new people. So he's going to introduce you to everybody in the room. So the very best way to grow your business is to get involved in local politics.
Speaker 1:Hot damn, we just heard a hot take right there. He and I have been sitting there talking about networking all the time and doing this. But he's right, I had a city councilman here in Johns Creek. He was a friend of mine and I'd never threw a party for him. And uh, right now I'm sitting there going. Steve brodman, I, I, I did you wrong, steve brodman was a good guy and he was a great guy yeah, yeah, no, he was at john's creek, uh, city councilman let me tell you how crazy this is.
Speaker 3:So on the way over here today this buddy of mine texts me and asked me if I know this guy and I text him back. I go no, why he goes? Well, he is on a advisory committee for green space for one of the cities here or local cities, I don't want to mention any names and I said, well, I know the mayor of that city and so he's like this guy, even though he lives here locally in atlanta area, owns a piece of property in delaware on a corner, and my friend is opening up a country club for shooting for pistols and rifle ranges with lockers. It's first class. And he wants to put a sign on this guy's property in delaware to say you know, turn right here to go to ABC gun club. And he knows I live in Atlanta and so he called me.
Speaker 3:My friend from Delaware calls me in Atlanta and wants to know if I know this guy, and so I told him no, I knew somebody that would. So I thought maybe you would know the guy beach. I said no, but I know the mayor. So I text the mayor and said hey, I need john smith's um info for a friend of mine and he's already sent that back to me. I've already sent that guy.
Speaker 1:Now it's already back to delaware welcome to how business happens right there. Is that crazy. It is right we always talk about know your numbers, have a plan, do this, but what steve's doing is working the network and we we do talk about it. So we're talking about networking a different way, and I know, steve, you're also involved in rotary here, uh, which is a great give back organization that gets you involved in that. So, but but that's how it works and that's a gold nugget right there. Get involved and look because, guys, for many of us, you're not going to affect who the president is, I don't care and you're definitely not going to change DC, because we've had but it starts somewhere.
Speaker 2:So city council people end up going to the statehouse. Sometimes they end up getting in positions in the state government. Next thing you know they're in Washington, and the thing that blows me away is in local politics. So here we are, johns Creek, georgia. Was it the 10th largest city in georgia? It's the wealthiest city in georgia. Something wealthiest city, oh yeah, and the difference between you getting elected and not getting elected is a couple hundred votes oh, it's nothing yeah, it's nothing, it's nothing.
Speaker 3:But then here's the cool thing. So, like the guy, the guy that was uh, do you remember? Um, uh, tom, he was our, uh, us rep. But he was the guy he, dr, tom price. Yes, tom price, yeah, tom price. So tom price. I knew tom price when he was just an old doctor and he was in the rudder club. And I was in the rudder club and I probably went to him for some orthopedic something I had at some point in time. But I knew him as a friend and then I helped him on a couple you know and every you know.
Speaker 3:You know a lot of people forget if you're in this, the state house or the US house. You got to run every two years. It's constant. It's a constant. You're campaigning all the time.
Speaker 3:So, but but the cool thing about it is is that when my kids were like 10, 12, and 14, my wife said we got to do that DC trip. You know, we got to take them up there. You know, when we were kids we used to ride the bus up and we know we learn about all that. So we, so I called Tom. I said Tom, I'm coming up. He said dude, call this, call this guy this is my chief of staff Tell me when you're going to be here. Well, we show up. This guy gives us a one-on-one tour all the way through the Capitol. We go see Tom in his office. We get to talk to Tom. Tom says would you like a flag flown over the U S Capitol? I'm like, yeah. So we get a flag that's flown over the U S Capitol. Tom says would you like to go visit the? We get a full tour of the White House. Really All because I had a couple parties for Tom. How about that In Alpharetta?
Speaker 1:Georgia man, we're dropping some serious, serious nuggets right here. That's mind-blowing for a lot of people right now. You know what they're afraid of politics. I'm going to stop right here. We're going to have to come back and listen to the next episode. I'm bringing him back. He just mic dropped, didn't he? He did. We're out of here. All right, bye everybody. You just learned something. Go marinate on that, and you know what Next episode's coming back out, and we're bringing him right back Because I'm not letting him go. But you guys got to wait for another week and if you're binge watching, binge listening, business Safari is making it happen. 5% man, we're in the top five. Woo, woo, let's go. All right, we're out of here. Let's rock it.